Contributed by reader
One favourite pastime of basketball enthusiasts is to speculate on the group of death and East Zone champions Anglican High School look to be in such a position in the National B Division Boys Basketball Championship.
The mostly Secondary 3 team, fresh off a C Division national triumph in 2008, is pitched against a much-improved North Vista Secondary and an unpredictable but talented Queensway Secondary in the “group of death”.
North Vista , featuring Singapore’s Youth Olympic squad member Larry Liew, have been a revelation in a tough North Zone Championship. Fending off a list of talented opponents including Woodlands Ring and Maris Stella High, they made their way to the final against a towering Presbyterian High School. It was in that cauldron of pressure that they displayed their discipline and grit in pushing the North Zone favourites all the way. Larry, in particular, was outstanding in that game with his leadership and deadly shooting touches from the 3-point line.
Another team not to be counted out is third-place South Zone finisher Queensway Secondary, consisting of the tallest players in the championship. They led Raffles Institution for most of their match in their semi-final, only to lose steam in the end. Yet only two places beckon for these 3 contesting schools in Group A, and it will be interesting to see which teams will survive.
New Town Secondary, Dunman Secondary, Seng Kang Secondary and Peirce Secondary will have the dubious honour of being in the other hotly-contested group – Group B. Although New Town with star point guard Lor Weng Siang and Dunman with their own Adam Goh should qualify from their group, dark horses Seng Kang and Peirce can definitely provide some stiff resistance.
It is a totally different scenario in groups C and D as South Zone champion Catholic High and North Zone winner Presbyterian High look set to dominate in their respective groups.
In a strange twist, Unity Secondary (in Group C) and Raffles Institution (in Group D) must be grateful for such a draw, as it will mean avoiding one of the two basketball powerhouses if they manage to qualify for the second round.
Unfortunately though, River Valley High and Hwa Chong Institution look set to be among the first round casualties. Looking out of depth in their lop-sided losses in the West Zone semi-final matches against New Town and Unity, they will definitely struggle against higher quality opponents in the national rounds.
Maris Stella High too, can pat themselves on the back for having waded through a killer north zone first round grouping of Prebyterian High and Ahmad Ibrahim Sec into the nationals. However, it should be the end of the road for them in the first round as their squad looks thin just depending on the remarkable twins Jervin and Shervin.
Fans will also definitely miss the presence of perennial favourites Jurong Secondary in thta nationals, who were eliminated in the zonal rounds due to a quirk in the second round draw. Perhaps the organisers can look into reformatting the competition to ensure such freak results do not happen again.
The girls’ championship looks more straightforward, except for a group of death in Group A, where South Zone champions Cedar Girls’ School, West Zone runners-up Nanyang Girls’ High School and Dunman Secondary are drawn together. Unfortunately, one of these three teams will see their nationals campaign end prematurely.
For a detailed list of groupings, please see the School Fixtures & Results page.
All matches will be played at Jurong West Sports Hall.
“If RV and HCI qualify for the second round, then the writer will of course turn speechless. In fact, I’m sure more than just the writer will be speechless.”
I hope you’re feeling speechless now, writer 🙂
Thanks for sharing your opinion.
The article above was written by a reader, just to let you know.
Certainly, confidence is a key factor, regardless of age.
Uncle Les, I do not see why AHS is in a group of death, even if their team has many sec 3s? I feel that they are confident of winning.
good one singaporesportsfan
Hear, hear, singaporesportsfan.
To -.-
You are a rude idiot for using the word ‘chaoyang’. How dare you use the name of the school for intellectually disabled students as a derogatory phrase?
Do you think you are being witty or clever here?
I have news for you – it shows neither.
Instead, it shows you are a moron and your lack of intelligence and upbringing.
This reader damm chaoyang sia.
Uncle Les why is today’s game nt posted yet
i thought you all post very fast one ?
the jurong sports hall is very very slippery. some of the players almost sprain their ankles today. also, it is very very warm as the doors have to be shut and there is no fans. i hope that next tiem the organisation can choose other location.
Group of death or otherwise, it seems still that this year’s championship will be Cat High’s to lose. Given the stellar play of PHS thus far, they run too thin a lineup and when compared to the sheer number of players that stock the Cat High lineup, I still feel that when the dust finally settles, it will be Cat High that remains standing.
Having said that, I think it is also fair to say that this year has seen a marked improvement in the overall standard of play by almost all the schools who made the Nationals. It is heartening to see so many young hoopsters who are putting in time and effort to hone their skills. Kudos to BAS too for trying to slowly improve on the level of coaching that is available in Singapore.
Finally, I really hope that C div Nationals will be held once again at BAS, Jurong West stadium is really out of the way.
As Les mentioned, it’s up to individual to express his/her view which may be correct or vioe versa. Early 2009 after the North Zone B Division Basketball Round 1 Grouping wss released, many voiced that PHS and AISS would qualify from Group A and ultimately be the Zone Top 4. But this was not so! A dark horse overturned AISS. Past historical records seem to preside the thoughts without realising the present strengths and weaknesses.
Underdogs, let’s prove ourselves to eliminate the dominance.
Go Marists! Defy the odds!
As with most or even all written pieces, writers have their points of view. In my book, all written stories are biased one way or the other.
This whole website is biased – against international sport. You hardly see any international sports right? That’s because we are choosing to focus on Singapore.
Coming back to this story, you may disagree with it. So that’s fine. And I encourage everyone to speak their mind. That is what makes it fun to run a website. People tell you what they think.
If RV and HCI qualify for the second round, then the writer will of course turn speechless. In fact, I’m sure more than just the writer will be speechless.
If they don’t, then he has made a good judgment call. That’s all.
It’s nothing personal and the writer has nothing against the two schools.
As I’ve said before, if you would like to write an opinion piece of your own, please feel free to send it.
You send it, we post it.
anyway wad a biased report. can you please define the word “freak” for us,the readers?
wow i would like to see if tis guy will turn speechless if rv and hci qualifies.
Hey, could a rephrase be done for “Perhaps the organisers can look into reformatting the competition to ensure such freak results do not happen again.” because it sounds rather offending and may give a bad impression to others. Thanks.
hi unc les, i blieve tat group d for gurls is oso a group of death. cchms, jurong, sc, ahmad all r very strong teams. y dun u mention dis too?